I made a few connections in Southern Sudan on my first day

Duk Payuel, Southern Sudan----I stuffed my pen and notebook in my purse Tuesday as I toured the village just before sunset. I wanted to get a feel for the place without the distraction of taking notes.

I marveled at the grazing cows, goats and chickens roaming around mud huts. I reflected on my own upbringing as I soaked in the village life. I grew up in a city with running water and electricity, but I made some connections here. I bonded with a woman pounding sorghum, a grain that is a staple in Southern Sudan. I remembered pounding cassava leaves and palm nuts in my native Liberia.

“I used to do that you know,’’ I told Dr. Dave Reed, an emergency room physician at SUNY Upstate Medical Hospital, as we walked pass the woman.

I couldn’t get my eyes off the chickens because I thought about the times my family killed white chicken for Sunday dinner. I don't remember the last time I had a homegrown chicken dinner. I couldn’t help but think aboutbuying one of the chickens to cook for dinner before I leave Duk Payuel. Watching the chickens roaming around Duk really brought back some memories.

I started my tour with a conversation with Juma Malual, the clinical officer at the Duk Lost Boys Clinic, the medical facility inspired by John Dau. John is the former “Lost Boy’’ who is the subject of the award-winning documentary “God Grew Tired of Us.’’

There are no stores or markets in Duk. The clinic gets all its medical supplies and food for its staff from Nairobi. AIM AIR, a charter flight run by the American Inland Mission, delivers the clinic’s food and medical supplies once a month. The clinic and a primary school, built by International Relief & Development, are the only bright spots in the village.

The agency is also building a health care center.

I asked Jumawhere the villagers got their food from. The closet market is about 12 hours away, he said. There are no commercial flights to Duk. The village has one car, and it belongs to the International Relief & Development.

People put their money together and send someone to a major market in Duk County to buy food and bring it back to the village, Juba said. The lentils, rice, split peas, and vegetable oil sold at the stalls I saw, sell for three times more because of the transportation.

“It’s very difficult for people to survive,’’ Juma told me.

The clinic’s staff gave uptheir tents for us to sleep. They’re sharing their meals with us, and are spending their meager incometo buy us coca cola. Michelle and I will leave a big tip on the way out.

I was touched when one of the women knocked on our tent Tuesday night to drop off two bottles of coca cola for us. I don’t usually drink soda, but it would have been rude to refuse African hospitality.

Myheart ached for the half- naked children with charcoal skin. They greeted us as we walked by, and posed for pictures. What future will they have in a country that is still experiencing the effects of 21 years of civil war?

There’s ongoing inter-ethnic fighting in some parts of southern Sudan. In September, 125 people were killed when fighting broke out in Duk Padiet, about 25 miles from Duk Payuel.

Some of the injured came to the clinic to patch up their wounds. A Duk Payuel resident was killed, and another injured, Gabriel Manyok, the clinic’s HIV/AIDS educator, told me. There was no fighting in Duk Payuel, but the clinic evacuated its staff. Some village youths banded, and vowed to to protect theclinic and the school after they learned that a clinic in a nearby village was destroyed during interethnic fighting.

“This clinic is their future, they don’t want to see it destroyed,’’ Gabriel said.

I asked Juma and Gabriel about the upcoming general elections and the 2011 referendum for the independence of southern Sudan.

People are excited because they’ve never voted before, but they don’t understand, he said. Those who do understand are more excited about the 2011 election,he said.

The April elections, Juma said, is the best hope for the 2011 election. The fact that people are registered is an indication that they will support the the 2011 referendum.